Shamrock's WriMos

Bowing Out..

2011-10-16T13:15:00.000+08:00

(Copy of post on GothNoWriMo boards...)

Due to unforeseen events - obedience training for hyperactive wolves, major structural damage to organise repairs for and several meetings with anxious villagers to reassure them that there won't be a repeat performance - I must bow out of this year's GothNo.

Sadly, now that I've seen Canardly's winner's certificate, I'm so far off target there's no hope of catching up and laying claim to it...

I am taking out of my efforts so far an interesting story idea, some plot points I really like, and the kind and helpful suggestions from fellow writers who offered their help in the I'm stuck! *shriek* thread.

I'll still frequent the boards however, so you'll see me around.All the best with your own writing - I hope it's going well - and see you at the finish line.

And now, I must get back to my wolves -

*raises arms and vanishes in a flash of lightning*

GothNo Day 9

2011-10-09T22:59:00.002+08:00

I've passed the quarter mark - and this despite two days where I didn't get a wordcount out at all.Katherine is at dinner and Mrs Sterling has just deigned to speak to her... ... I stopped at the point where I knew what was going to happen but not how it would happen. Hopefully the muse will be busy dreaming up scenarios while I sleep. :)

5,322 / 20,000 (26.61%)

GothNo 2011 Day 7

2011-10-07T23:43:00.001+08:00

Wordcount tonight after last night's nil result was 1,008 bringing the total to 4,592. I'm back on track!Katherine had arrived at Anthony's home and has met the woman she fears is a rival for his affections.

4,592 / 20,000 (22.96%)

Finished the second scene!

2011-10-05T23:14:00.003+08:00

And my wordcount is 3,512.Katherine has reached the inn she'll be staying at and has heard a hint of gossip about Miss Loretta, an old friend of Anthony's family.

3,512 / 20,000 (17.56%)

Scene 2 finished

2011-10-03T22:06:00.002+08:00

703 words tonight, bringing the total to 2,182.

Katherine has spoken with Anthony Sterling about the change of plans but her mind is not easy. I've also hinted at the setting she and Jem will be staying in and what might happen there...

2182 / 20000 (10.91%)

First scene finished!

2011-10-02T22:35:00.001+08:00

1479 words in total, 691 words of that being tonight's wordcount.

Katherine has received a letter which throws some plans into disarray and hints at problems that lie ahead.

1479 / 20000 (7.40%)

GothNo 2011 Day 1

2011-10-01T20:06:00.000+08:00

I have just finished the first bit of writing. 788 words or 796 depending on which software I look at the rtf file in. I'm running with 788; I prefer to underestimate my wordcount that overestimate.

I used Momentum Writer from Black Obelisk. And it works. You CANNOT ERASE ANYTHING (unless you have ticked the box in the user preferences menu to allow the backspace key to work. I hadn't). So typos galore where I was about to write one word and changed my mind at the last second just as I'd typed the first letter or two. Never mind. Not being able to erase worked and that's all that matters at this stage!

If anyone else is using Momentum Writer and is wondering how to access the user preferences, you need to right click to bring up the menu.

788 / 20000 (3.94%)

GothNoWriMo 2011 starts TOMORROW!

2011-09-30T21:30:00.001+08:00

And I STILL haven't a clue what my plot is. I've worked out the ghost, the conflict (a romance one and a supernatural one) and I've identified most of the main characters, but I feel so unprepared. If I just work on the details of the first scene and what it's about, maybe that'll be enough to get me pantsing my way through the month. (I'm a pantser at heart, but I like to have some soft of blueprint to follow, some idea where I'm headed.)

I've been working through Susan Bischoff's Blueprint (amazing document) and I've tweaked it a bit to include some other bits and pieces that I'll find helpful.

Right. I'd better start working out the details of the first scene.

Good luck to everyone doing GothNoWriMo this year!

Photo credit: mconnors from morguefile.com

What I'm starting with

2011-08-28T21:03:00.007+08:00

I've been thinking of writing a sequel to Greenwood Manor, my GothNo 2008 novella. Katherine and Dr Sterling are engaged and he wants her to meet his family. This is, of course, quite an important event, because Dr Sterling's family will become her inlaws.

Rose and Jamie will re-appear in this second novella, as will Katherine's mother-in-law (her first husband's mother) and possibly the mother-in-law's friend.

I've got a cast of characters I enjoyed writing about and it would be good to see where a second novella would take them all.

So, that's my initial idea.

I found a very interesting article, Create a Plot Outline in 8 Easy Steps, which looks at the eight ingredients a good plot needs.

They are:

Story Goal
Consequences
Requirements
Forewarnings
Costs
Dividends
Prerequisites
Preconditions

My next task is to work my way through these eight ingredients and see what ideas they trigger that I can build a plot outline with.

What's important is that I don't outline too heavily. I'm a pantser at heart!

EDIT: Oh, and I almost forgot. I should be able to get at least 10 minutes (if not half an hour! Whoopee!!) of writing time in during my little one's afternoon naps. Which take place in the car.

It's not a coffee shop writing (*sigh*) but it IS writing and that's what counts! :)

GothNo 2011 approaches...

2011-08-19T11:15:00.001+08:00

... and it's time to start thinking about what gothic novella to write next.

I've done the straightforward ghost story and last year I did a Creepy Comedy, so what do I do this year?

And will I have time now I'm a full time mother????

Time will tell. :)

In the meantime, I'll put my thinking cap on and see if I can come up with something I'd like to write.

Farewell for another year!

2010-11-01T12:13:00.000+08:00

Well, that's it. It's November 1st and GothNoWriMo ended at midnight last night. I reached my 20K wordcount goal and I now have a finished novella to revise and polish till it gleams.

What a great feeling of satisfaction that gives me!

This blog will be in hibernation until next October when GothNo 2011 starts, but if you'd like to keep up to date on how my writing is going, pop over to Writing, Dreams and Drops of Ink.

I wish you all the best with NaNo if you're doing it this year, and with your writing in general. :)

GothNo Days 29 & 30 Progress

2010-10-30T17:40:00.004+08:00

Didn't get to blog yesterday, but progress was as follows:

18,772 / 20,000 (93.86%)

I'm pretty sure I'll finish GothNo this evening so I'll update this post again when I do!

UPDATE 8:08pm

I finished! 20,797 words - 104%. Yay! I got to the end, included a snippet of the song I wanted to include in the story and finished with an appropriate HEA.

Hurray! I "won" GothNo. Woo hoo!

And I'm actually too tired to do more than give that tiny cheer. Will blog about the achievement next time. :)

GothNo Day 28 Progress

2010-10-28T14:55:00.001+08:00

The ghost is going back over the past, remembering the incident that led to her death...

Writing creates the mood, not the other way around.

I have to keep reminding myself of this. Because the nearer I get to the end of GothNo, the harder it is to sit down and write. Especially when I have been lax on 11 days during the month and now need to do almost twice the daily wordcount to make up for lost time!

GothNo Day 27 Progress

2010-10-27T18:11:00.000+08:00

I wrote over 1,300 words today. Phew!

The ghost has been given a lot to think about after Deirdre and Brian's attempts to help, but facing fears is never easy...

I still have a couple of scenes in mind to bring the story to a close, so I should be able to reach the 20K wordcount mark. Yay!

GothNo Day 26 Progress

2010-10-26T15:41:00.000+08:00

If I want to "win" GothNo, I now have to type over 1,000 words per day.

Today, I did just that!

Deirdre and Brian know a little bit more about the ghost but as to how they can go about helping her, they have little idea...

I'm fast running out of story here (in terms of wordcount), but the exercise I did on the ghost's limits has given me one or two ideas for new scenes so that's what I'm going to be working on tomorrow and over the next few days.

I also have that love scene to write, too. So that will take up some wordcount.

It's important to state that I'm not looking to create scenes just for the sake of wordcount. The scenes I'm coming up with are relevant - they move the story forward, tell us more about the characters, or reveal information to the reader. I suppose if I didn't have the wordcount to make up, I could be tempted to just finish the story and sit back in my seat with a sigh. But with a wordcount in mind, I have to push myself a bit harder.

GothNo Day 25

2010-10-25T20:20:00.000+08:00

Crumbs. Life caught up with me on Friday and I've been borne aloft on its wave since. My feet haven't touched the bottom.

No writing done, in other words.

Tomorrow will be a different story!!!

Day 22 update

2010-10-22T11:28:00.000+08:00

Today's writing progress is linked to GothNo but not to my writing project... I managed to sit down with my rough notes and produce a pep talk email for the end of Week 3. *wipes brow*

I now have to head off to town and do some non-writing things, but I intend to come back this afternoon and whack out a wordcount to keep me on track.

I'll update this post when it's done.

GothNo Day 21 Progress

2010-10-21T10:36:00.002+08:00

Deirdre is now in contact with the ghost, trying to understand her situation, but the ghost insists that she's fine and doesn't need any help.

I'm in the middle of that scene, and that's where I left it. I hadn't pre-planned that scene at all. I knew at some point both Brian and Deirdre were going to help the ghost that had helped them, but I hadn't realised it was going to play out the way it is.

I have a few other ideas about how it could unfold from when I did the limits exercise - i.e. what limits the ghost has - and I can see how that might make an appropriate ending. Still hazy and vague, but it's in sight at the same time.

GothNo Day 19 Progress

2010-10-19T12:23:00.000+08:00

Passed the daily wordcount goal again today. There really is something to that idea that writing creates the mood, not the other way round! It doesn't matter what sort of mood I'm in when I sit down to write, as long as I open the laptop and think about the where I've left the story and what I want to write, the words show up. That is really cool!

Deirdre and Brian have returned from town with a few items that Deirdre believes will help her to get in contact with the ghost... The ghost, meanwhile, is not sure how to respond to this development...

GothNo Day 18 Progress

2010-10-18T12:20:00.000+08:00

It was hard to get going after the weekend away, but I took the advice I'd included in the second GothNo Pep Talk email which was: Writing creates the mood; the mood does not create the writing!

After breakfast, I wasn't particularly in the mood for writing, but I opened up the laptop and typed more than was needed to catch up with where I should have been, had I been writing consistently.

The scene is what was going on for Brian and Deirdre after the night they spent together, and Deirdre's telling Brian that there's a ghost in the house that they need to do something about.

Quite what they're planning to do, I don't know. This was not part of my pre-planning in any extensive way. I'm going to have to wing it tomorrow, I think. :)

So, all good. I've caught up with the wordcount and I've got another interesting scene to write. I'm happy!

Writing Update

2010-10-15T12:14:00.001+08:00

We're heading away for the weekend and I'm supposed to be packing my bag and making a lunch we can eat in the car on the way. I also had the Week 2 Pep Talk Email for GothNoWriMo to finish and send out and the packing and sandwich-making has taken a back seat. As has my daily wordcount for today. (Tiny scream)

However, the pep talk email has been written and sent out on time (I'm aiming to send them out midday my time on a Friday), so that's one item I can check off the list.

Now I need to make some food to keep me going till we actually get to eat the lunch I need to make. And I need to put clothes and toiletries into my bag. We're leaving in less than two hours. (Another small scream and some hyperventilating.)

I can do this! I can!! I just need to remain focused. And stop blogging!!!!!

And so I bid you good day! :)

GothNo Day 14 Progress

2010-10-14T12:49:00.000+08:00

I passed the half-way mark today in terms of wordcount. Story-wise, I'm practically at the finish, so I need to think about transition scenes or some new scenes in order to make sure I reach my 20K goal!

As it happens, I need to work two "golden oldie" songs into the narrative, and a few scenes showing the ghost's backstory, instead of having it told to us, would also be interesting to read. And more dramatic.

Time to haul out a notebook and get some ideas down on paper!

GothNo Day 13 Progress

2010-10-13T13:10:00.000+08:00

I wasn't able to finish the second half of the love scene between Deirdre and Brian so I will have to come back to that another time. I moved on, instead, to the next scene. The ghost is being bothered by something...

Surpassed the daily wordcount goal. Typed in 1,199 words to bring the total wordcount so far to 9,457.

I've also drafted up the second GothNo Pep Talk email. I need to add in a few things and revise it to tighten things up and then send it to Lily Munster for the OK before sending it out on Friday.

GothNo Day 11 Progress

2010-10-11T13:14:00.004+08:00

I wrote the beginning of a love scene between Brian and Deirdre. Both their points of view were inserted with a break to indicate when the point of view character changed. I'm going to have to think about this scene in some depth when it comes time to revise and rewrite. Both their points of view are important in terms of motivation, but so far I've only been writing from the ghost's point of view so I need to even up the viewpoints a bit more so that the story settles down more easily for a reader.

Surpassed the daily wordcount goal, too. Hurray. :)

GothNo Day 8 Progress

2010-10-08T13:51:00.000+08:00

Deirdre and Brian have settled down on the couch in front of the fire with a bottle of wine, and she explains to him why she needs the "object of concern". (I'm being deliberately vague for the sake of any Beta Readers who may be reading this!)

I did WAY more than the daily 645 wordcount goal. More than twice that. I really got into that scene in a big way.

Tomorrow's scene is going to be a lot of fun, too....

GothNo Day 7 Progress

2010-10-07T11:32:00.002+08:00

The two young people have had an argument and the ghost, in an effort to make sure the young man doesn't leave, has tampered with his car.

I haven't managed to work in the two songs (two oldies) to parallel the ghost's own story. I'm not sure how I'm going to do it, either. So far, it's the ghost's efforts to help the guy and girl that have my focus. Either the songs will come in later, or else I'll have to work them in during the re-write.

Surpassed my wordcount again. 999 words. :)

GothNo Day 6 Progress

2010-10-06T17:44:00.001+08:00

The ghost has taken matters into her own hands and has revealed the presence of the object of concern to the young man. Unfortunately, this has sparked a terrible argument between the two young people, and the ghost has to once more step in and smooth things over in her own way...

I really surpassed the wordcount today - over 1,000 words. Not bad considering I sat down to write far later in the day than I usually do and that I'm feeling a bit worn out.

I'm also working on some ideas for the second GothNo pep talk email which will be sent out at the end of the second week.

GothNo Day 5 Progress

2010-10-05T11:37:00.002+08:00

The scene unfolded quite easily and once again I surpassed the daily wordcount of 645 words. I know, I know, it's such a tiny wordcount there really isn't any problem getting past it, but it's the psychological effect that it has that matters!

One problem I encountered was viewpoint. I'll have to take a good look at this when I go back and revise. I knew a lot of my scenes were going to be told from the ghost's point of view, but this particular scene between the two young people might benefit from being told from a different point of view. Close third, possibly, from one of the two.

Anyway, no need to think too much about the technicalities just yet. GothNo is about wordcount, developing a writing habit, having fun, letting go, and all that jazz. The re-write - which I also enjoy - is a different kettle of fish and requires a different mindset.

GothNo Day 4 Progress

2010-10-04T13:37:00.003+08:00

The ghost has figured out how to ring the first person in Deirdre's Contacts list. She has rung said person. She has remarked on Deirdre's screensaver. The deed is done.

I had another note to make to self on why the ghost decided to go to all the trouble of ringing for outside help instead of getting rid of the item in Deirdre's belongings that caused her so much concern. I need to work on the motivation, otherwise the story won't seem plausible.

I have once again surpassed the daily wordcount goal and I'm still loving my story and looking forward to writing again tomorrow.

Part of the reason for this is because of the plot developments that sprang to mind as I was falling asleep last night. I was thinking about the elements of gothic fiction and suddenly it came to me that if I changed one of the characters, I could work in some new developments and tie everything up with the ghost's backstory and story arc. I don't want to give too much away at this point. There may be Beta readers for this story out there who are also reading the blog posts, and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Besides, if I summarise the developments here, I risk making the actual writing redundant as far as my Muse and creative self are concerned.

GothNo Day 3 Progress

2010-10-03T12:11:00.001+08:00

I started on the second scene today. The ghost is looking at the mobile phone and wondering how she's going to get it to work. I added in some reminiscences and also some world-building, namely the ghost's limits - what she can and can't do.

I know how the rest of the scene is going to go, so there won't be any problem getting started tomorrow.

I've also made a list of the Muse Bombs I've come across so far in and saved them in OneNote, and included a note to self about the ghost's motivation in wanting to help Deirdre. She does have a reason for doing it, but I want to make it even stronger.

So, Day 3 wordcount achieved and surpassed!

GothNo Day 2 Progress

2010-10-02T16:01:00.002+08:00

Finished the scene today with 1583 words which is less than my estimation of 2,000 words per scene. But no matter, I've finished the scene!

The ghost has seen that something troubles the young woman who has come to stay at the house and she'd like to help in any way she can. Being a nosy individual, however, she goes through Deirdre's zipped bag and finds something disturbing...

GothNo Day 1 Progress

2010-10-01T11:51:00.002+08:00

It took a while to get going. I fiddled about with loading the playlist onto the laptop, then playing a couple of songs to "set the mood", then added my 2010 GothNo wordcount calendar to the laptop so I could update it on a daily basis. Then I set up the orange-font-on-black-background template which I understand is easier on the eyes than a black font on a white background.

Then I sat looking at the blinking cursor for a few moments and thought "OK, I just have to start."

So I started typing. First person pov - an intro to the character and the setting through the character's own eyes. A bit of backstory, but not too much, and the hopefully tantalising revelation that the character is a ghost.

I may type more later on, but I'd prefer not to cause any shocks to my system that might undo all my good intentions. Sometimes it's better to leave your writing when you know where you're heading with it next.

The nice thing is that I've already passed my daily wordcount goal of 645 words. Yay! :)

GothNo begins!

2010-09-30T22:09:00.001+08:00

Oh my word! Less than two hours until GothNoWriMo officially begins!

I intend to get a good night's sleep and then start into some serious typing tomorrow after breakfast.

Best of luck, everyone!

Image courtesy of phaewilk at Morguefile.com

Final tasks before GothNo 2010 starts.

2010-09-23T14:27:00.001+08:00

All I really have left to do as regards the pre-planning is writing the Sentence Lites onto notecards (I use Mindola SuperNoteCard). And ... that's it!

I've offered to write up some pep talk emails to help keep me and my fellow GothNo-ers motivated and on track to reach our wordcounts. I have a few ideas in mind, so I'll have some fun putting them together over the next few days.

Only 8 days left till GothNo starts. How exciting!

GothNoWriMo Pre-Planning Progress 5

2010-09-21T13:56:00.006+08:00

Today I looked at limits.

Holly Lisle has covered this topic in her How to Think Sideways course. Randy Ingermanson also covered it in Volume 6, #3 of his Advanced Fiction Writing Ezine on 2nd March 2010. (It's in the second section entitled Creating: Some Things are Impossible where he examines Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series and why it works.)

Despite having a number of things to do today, I sat myself down in a coffee shop with paper and pen and worked on the ghost's limits.

For example, I created a scene yesterday whereby my ghost can manipulate physical objects in the house - she uses Deirdre's mobile phone to call Brian. Today I fleshed out this idea with how she was able to do this (the whole physics behind energy-use), and the limit beyond which she could not operate. i.e. she can't make noise (not having a body) unless she uses one physical object to strike another one. This means she can't knock on a wall with her knuckles, for example.

I've lots more examples of limits, but just in case any prospective beta readers are reading these posts, I'm not going to go into any details because that would spoil reading the novella when it's finished!

This was a great exercise to do because I found answers to questions I hadn't yet asked; I was able to link up character motivation with plot and I could see how some of the limits would very likely lead to new, fun scenes to write.

Limits. They're very important because they allow us to become more creative.

****************

As an aside, below are a couple of interesting articles here on the relationship between limits and creativity:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/limits-and-creativity.html
http://abundance-blog.marelisa-online.com/2010/01/27/limits-can-free-creativity/

GothNoWriMo Pre-Planning Progress 4

2010-09-20T20:45:00.003+08:00

Today I sat down and dissected my plot cards with the Sentence Lites to find out where there were weaknesses which would lead to bland scenes. Of the seven cards, I found two with weak Sentence Lites.

Scene One:
Delighted to have company in the house, the ghost becomes afraid when she sees something in Deirdre's belongings.

Scene Two:
Unsure how to proceed, the ghost is relieved when Brian shows up at the house.

In these two examples, the text in italics show how weak the conflict is. becomes afraid is passive, although the reader might be interested in the reason behind the ghost's fear. is relieved is also passive.

I amended the Sentence Lites as follows:

Revised Scene One:
Delighted to have company in the house, the ghost pokes through Deirdre's belongings and finds something unexpected.

Revised Scene Two:
Needing live human intervention, the ghost figures out how to use Deirdre's mobile phone and rings Brian, hoping he'll respond and come to the house.

These two revised Sentence Lites are a lot stronger - the ghost is more proactive for one thing, it gives insight into her character, and gives way more scope for a few laughs. (I'm writing for the Creepy Comedy genre.)

Today, I also went through Holly Lisle's How to Think Sideways course and made a list of the tools I can use while writing the novel. I'll continue with that list tomorrow and possibly try the LUC technique to come up with one more scene. (I have a few things to do tomorrow, so time constraints might prohibit me from doing the exercise, but if I don't get it done tomorrow, I'll do it the next day.)

Something else I want to keep in mind while I'm writing is the structure. Although I follow Storyfix.com and novel structure as it's put forward there, I prefer to keep it simple for the time being as far as the planning for my first draft goes.

So, the tool I'm using is the 8-point arc:

1 - Stasis - the initial state of the MC at the start of the story.

2 - Trigger - something disrupts the MC's life.

3 - The Quest - the MC sets out to achieve something (probably hoping it will set things back on track)

4 - The Surprise.

5 - The Climax

6 - Reversal

7 - Critical Choice

8 - Resolution or a new Stasis

As I write, I'll look at this structure to see what point I'm at in the story, and what point I should be moving towards.

GothNoWriMo Pre-Planning Progress 3

2010-09-17T11:22:00.003+08:00

This morning I worked on the conflict and scenes worksheets and now have seven scenes pretty much ready to be written once October 1st comes round.

I'm estimating about 2,000 words per scene, although I'm not sure how that will pan out once I start writing. But using those numbers, seven scenes at 2,000 words each will take me more than half way to the finish line of my 20,000 GothNo wordcount goal.

Next week, I'll be looking at my plot cards and dissecting them to make sure my Sentence Lites are working as hard as they need to so that when I finally start writing, I won't be creating any boring or static scenes.

It's a first draft, and I'm not aiming for perfection, but it has to be on track otherwise the revision will be a nightmare.

This is the pre-planning process from Holly Lisle's How to Think Sideways course. The great thing about the course is that there's a logic to the exercises but you still have the ability to have fun with them and not drain the life out of the project.

Oh, and I am revising my Sentence for the story to:

Fun-loving 1950s ghost plays matchmaker to two young people ... and learns about life and love and happily-ever-afters.

That happily-ever-after bit is one of the key elements of the story.

GothNoWriMo Pre-Planning Progress 2

2010-09-16T13:04:00.002+08:00

So, I've finished all three character worksheets from the How to Think Sideways course, one each for the ghost and the two young people she's hoping to entice together.

I've made a start on the Planned Conflict worksheets, filling in The Sentence as it has been developed to this point. The next few elements of conflict to look at are the organic conflict, the effect on the characters, the effect on the story and the effect on readers. I might start in on this later today, or I might start afresh tomorrow morning. We'll see.

Pre-Planning Progress 1

2010-09-14T12:30:00.002+08:00

Today I used tools and techniques from Holly Lisle's How to Think Sideways course to work on the pre-planning.

I used her Dot and Line technique to get some idea about characters and setting. I have some firm ideas now about who my ghost is and her backstory and also the two young people whom the ghost is hoping to successfully matchmake for. :)

I already had my Sentence from last year's pre-planning, and as I'd worked quite a bit on that there's little (if anything) that will need to change with it.

The next couple of tools I plan to use are the Character, Conflict, Time and Scenes modules. I'll start on the Character module this afternoon, depending on time and other constraints.

It's great knowing as much as I do now about my characters. It's helping to flesh out the story and has led me to some ideas about possible scenes to include. And I haven't even looked at the Character and Scenes modules yet. Sweet!

Image from Morguefile.com

GothNo project-planning tools

2010-09-12T13:27:00.003+08:00

On the GothNo forum I posted links to four tools that I considered useful for planning writing projects. They are as follows:

The first is an article by Phebe Durand (Lolaness) about using notecards to visually create a plot:
http://tinyurl.com/2daff8f

The second link is to an article by Stella Cameron about the six steps to a perfect plot:

http://tinyurl.com/yhnol9u

The third link is to an article by Larry Brooks called "The Single Most Powerful Writing Tool You’ll Ever See That Fits On One Page":

http://tinyurl.com/nx3cmy

The last link is to an exercise called The Snowflake Method. I tried this the first year I did NaNoWriMo (and reached 50K) and it worked because I knew each day what scenes I was going to write. (What didn't work so well is that I discovered I'm a writer who does not like to work from a heavily-planned outline - it leaves me feeling claustrophobic! For anyone who does enjoy having an outline to work from The Snowflake Method is a great tool.)

http://tinyurl.com/yw43r6

What I might end up doing is using a combination of all these tools to produce a plan that allows me the freedom to write in an inspired way while also knowing in advance what needs to be written each day.

Here's a link to a spreadsheet I also used my first year NaNoing. It was put together by Cameron Mattews at Truckpoetry(dot)net. It's based on The Snowflake Method and for anyone who likes using their laptop or computer to outline, this could be useful:

http://www.truckpoetry.net/2007/09/author-resource-outline-helper.html

GothNo 2010 is nigh upon us!

2010-09-08T20:39:00.002+08:00

I got an email a couple of days ago from the GothNo boards, reminding me that there's not long to go before GothNoWriMo starts.

Despite the fact that there's so much going on right now, I am seriously considering entering this year. I was not able to get started on my planned project for last year, but I have my notes (somewhere in one of the many boxes lined up in the spare rooms) so I could give it a go this year. It would be fun!

So, with that in mind, it might not be a bad idea to change the look of this blog in readiness for October 1st!

GothNo No No

2009-10-13T19:48:00.002+08:00

Maybe I was attempting the impossible or the very-difficult-to-achieve: visit family and friends that I haven't seen in three years AND write a 20K novella at the same time. I got the required wordcount out on Day 1 and haven't written a thing since.

I am now sitting in a hotel room and have the time and space to write over the next couple of days (and might do so) but in terms of successful GothNo-ing, it just ain't gonna happen.

November is when I plan to complete my GothNo novel. I'm not NaNo-ing this year so I'll have the time to work on the 20K novella and edit When Worlds Collide at the same time. Having two different projects at two different stages on the go at the same time will keep me focussed and content.

In the meantime, I'm going to spend time with those I love.

A useful prompt

2009-09-23T14:13:00.002+08:00

I was on the Forward Motion website and checked in with the Story Generator and got this:

EYES ON THEIR BACK...

It's that nagging sensation that someone, or something, is watching you. The feeling that unseen eyes are staring at you from the shadows, or lurking just out of eye-shot.

Today, show your character as they realize they too are being watched. Who might be watching them, that is up to you.

Justin

This is going to be perfect for a scene in this year GothNo novel. My heroine is going to realise the house is haunted... Now all I have to do is find a way to milk the scene for all its comic potential.

My ghost's Character Worksheet

2009-09-19T19:44:00.001+08:00

Tonight I'm going to get started on my ghost's character worksheet. I've already written down a few ideas for scenes for the first seven days of GothNo, so I know what the ghost character is going to get up to, but it would be nice to discover her back story and motivation and why she wants to give a helping hand to the romance between two young people.

The worksheet I'm using is from Holly Lisle's How to Think Sideways course and it's a great way to get down to the nitty gritty details that affect the character.

I'll post an update when the worksheet is completed.

No NaNo-ing for me this year...

2009-09-10T22:56:00.000+08:00

I've been thinking about this for a while and I really feel the best thing I can do this year is give NaNo a miss and concentrate, instead, on editing last year's NaNo novel and last year's GothNo novel. I have to be realistic. I've had little time to develop my NaNo project and I've got two first drafts that need revising, editing and polishing. There's no way I can do it all so I've got to prioritise.

If I have any spare time on my hands while I'm doing the revisons, I can work on some shorter pieces. There's still my short story/novella to complete, for one thing, and if I'm feeling particularly productive I can work some more on the idea that was going to be this year's NaNo project.

So plenty to keep me occupied for the remainder of the year.

(I'm really going to miss collecting the NaNo badges, though!)

Re-thinking ideas...

2009-08-15T20:14:00.004+08:00

I've been doing some more thinking and planning and my original idea for GothNo is now going to be my project for NaNo. A paranormal romance/suspense.

This year, for GothNo, I'm going to write a 20K novella for the Creepy Comedy category, simply because I'll need something to keep me occupied on the long-haul flight back home and the thoughts of writing something amusing appeals to me big time!

Initial thoughts - a ghost with a sense of humour, and two troubled lovers...

(Image courtesy of Petr Kratochvil at publicdomainpictures.net)

GothNoWriMo 2009

2009-08-01T20:32:00.006+08:00

If man were immortal he could be perfectly sure of seeing the day when everything in which he had trusted should betray his trust, and, in short, of coming eventually to hopeless misery. He would break down, at last, as every good fortune, as every dynasty, as every civilization does. In place of this we have death. ~Charles Sanders Peirce

It's coming to that time of year again when I dust off my Belladonna persona and start thinking about the 20K novella for the GothNoWriMo challenge.

An official trailer for New Moon and a quote I found (while searching for a new one for my sig) coupled with an experience I had at work some months ago are mingling together in a tantalising fashion that has my muse sitting up wide-eyed, contemplating the possibilities...

I'll let the pondering continue over the weekend and see what happens.

Nov 30th! NaNo's at an end...

2008-11-30T15:31:00.003+09:00

... and I've still been writing away so I must update the wordcount and validate it.

I'm going to keep going with this project. I'm determined to finish the first draft, polish it up and send it out into the world in 2009. I'm also going to finish the GothNo project and send that out, too.

*sigh* It's been a good year, writing-wise. I'm pleased with what I've achieved, and even more pleased with what I've learned.

Onwards and upwards!

Reached the finish line!

2008-11-25T20:57:00.007+09:00

Hurray! I've reached the 50K goal and passed it!!

I still haven't finished the story yet. I know where it's going - I have ideas for the ending - but I haven't written those last scenes yet, and I've only written one scene featuring the villain.

There'll be a lot to work on for the next few months, and I'm looking forward to it!

Week 3 NaNo

2008-11-18T19:00:00.006+09:00

Form Christ Baty's motivational nanomail:

"For those of you who are on track with your word counts, Week Three is when you should start thinking about how you're going to get a complete arc written in November. If the end of your book still feels light years away, think about abbreviating scenes, omitting chapters, and jumping ahead to the middle-end and end-end of your story. It's much, much easier to go back in December and flesh out the connecting bits you skipped than it is to write an entire ending."

Today I hit a slump. I had just done the How to Think Sideways Critical Scenes Pre-Planning, but could not for the life of me come up with more than one critical scene. (That's the one I'm going to write tonight, by the way.)

But I read Chris Baty's words, and I realised that now is not the time to wonder what comes next, chronologically, in the story. Now is the time to make sure that I have my middle securely in place so that I can start writing the scenes at the end in Week 4.

With that in mind, I have at least one other scene I can write. It's an important scene and is going to make a huge difference in my heroine's life.

Another thing I really need to do at this point is find out what the villain is planning to do with the artefact he stole. He's got serious problems, but I've not really focused until now on what he plans to do about his problems. Writing a few scenes from his pov will be fun and will also give me a feel for what will need tying up at the end

And that's my Week 3 NaNo plan going forward!

Passed the 33K mark!

2008-11-16T10:26:00.003+09:00

Yes, only another 16K or so to go.

This morning I have to sit down with the How to Think Sideways course and finish two more sections on world and language, both of which are potential sources of conflict.

I'm having lots of fun this year with NaNo. And once December arrives I'll have two projects to work on and edit and polish - Greenwood Manor, the gothic novel, and When Worlds Collide, the paranormal fantasy-romance.

Day 14 NaNoWriMo

2008-11-14T15:16:00.003+09:00

Today I had to sit myself down and work through week 5 of the How to Think Sideways course. I'm winging NaNo - there's no plot outline, per se - but that doesn't mean I can go completely blindly into the story. A writer needs to know some important things about her characters, about the conflict, about the world the story is set in. Week 5 of the How to Think Sideways course helps a writer to get those important details down on paper and clear in her head. And that sparks ideas.

I now know what the next scene is going to be about, although I'm not sure how it's going to end - I have to leave that open so that I enjoy the journey from A to wherever B is.

I also know what's going to eventually happen to one of my characters, and why it's important.

Bit by bit, the story is rising slowly out of a murky, bracken-filled pool and beginning to gleam in the sunlight.

No plot outline? No problem.

2008-11-06T22:22:00.003+09:00

The first four days of NaNo have been very interesting. A while ago, I mentioned that I was seriously thinking of winging my way through NaNo – I had a vague idea of characters, plot points and of genre, but I had no plot outline or anything other than a vague sense of where the story would go.

The past four days of NaNo have reminded me of how I used to write essays at school. (For essays read stories because my essays were almost invariably fiction.) I free-wrote them all. I never had an idea of wordcount, number of pages to limit myself to, characters, plot, nothing. All I had was the title we were set, and away I went to turn that title into a short story. Unless the title was altogether too rigid, in which case I had to write a non-fiction piece.

I remember an incident in Sixth Year when I got into trouble for not planning my essays. I was eighteen years of age, and the Leaving Cert was not that far off. We’d been set an essay and the English Teacher (I have to capitalise, this woman’s presence cannot be encapsulated in lower case) told us to make sure we did an essay plan, because it might get us extra marks in the Leaving if the examiner marking the papers saw we’d done one.

Of course, I got caught up in the whole essay-writing and gaily free-wrote away for half an hour or more that night till I had the whole thing down on paper. I can’t remember what the story was about now. The aftermath has completely wiped that memory from my mind.

Up went my copy book to the English Teacher for marking. Back it came to me in the next English class with an entire page at the end of my essay covered in a red scrawl, questioning why there was no essay plan and demanding that I include one with my essays in future.

I was livid when I got it home. I stared at the page for a long, long time. How dare she write in my beautiful, clean copy where all my creative outpourings went. A clean, innocent sheet of paper that had been waiting only for my joyful imagination to fill it was defaced almost beyond my endurance. She had disrespected my property and something of personal value.

At last I made the decision.

That red scrawl had to come out of there.

Out came my tip-ex pen and I went back over the red scrawl with a healing white line.

And then I wrote the start of the next essay over it.

Well. English Teacher was not at all impressed, not even with the fact that I’d included her beloved tool, the essay plan. (Incidentally, I wrote it up AFTER I’d written the essay.)

She called me up from my desk in class, had me stand in front of her seat on the podium, and spoke to me in furious low tones. Of course, all my classmates were agog to hear what English Teacher was saying to me. You could have heard a pin drop. I stood there getting hotter and hotter and more and more resentful, my face bright red. And she kept me standing there. (In those days, there was no back chat allowed in class, and even if there had been my experiences in a convent school had bred in me the belief that adults were to be respected. Looking back now from the perspective of an adult, I believe she was more intent on abusing her power and humiliating me, than she was concerned about guiding me in a 'right' direction, whatever that was. But no matter; that's beyond the scope of this blog!)

The reason why this sticks out in my mind is that I’m not planning this NaNo project either. There's no essay plan, no outline. I’m writing now the way I used to write when I was a child and teenager. There was no plan, then, either, and yet I always finished the stories I wrote in those days, and I always enjoyed my efforts.

It’s happening for me again now during NaNo. I write more per day than the required wordcount. I love what I’m writing. I never have more than a vague notion how what I’m writing is going to finish. And it’s fun. I’m going on a journey with the characters and it’s wonderful.

The value of this memory - and it's thanks to English Teacher that this memory is so sharp and clear in my mind - is that it tells me that I seem to have the sort of writing-soul that does not want to be constrained by an outline. I want to be free to roam about in the story wherever I choose, discovering and deciding as I go along. For a first draft, anyway. After that I already know that I have the discipline to sit and edit and read critically and re-word and revise and so on.

The first draft, though; that's about freedom and joy and excitement and breathless wonder.

Day 3

2008-11-03T20:23:00.004+09:00

And it's going good so far. I'm free-writing, I have to admit. I'm not sure where I'm going, but I'm getting a word count out, and that's the main thing.

I really do need to do a bit more planning, get some ideas floating around in my head, places for me and the muse to aim for, even if we're not sure of the path we're going to take....

Working full time isn't conducive to sitting and planning AND working on getting out the word count, so I'll have to wait till the weekend and immerse myself in the How to Think Sideways lessons.

In the meantime, Z (I still have to think of her name) has broken up with her boyfriend, Justin, is in 'pieces', and has gone to her grandmother's to resource herself. (And to try to save a bit of money, now that Justin has moved out and money isn't flowing as abundantly as it was when he was around.)

NaNo Day 1

2008-11-01T18:54:00.003+09:00

I was awake after midnight last night; technically, I could have started writing. But I didn't.

To keep myself motivated and spurred on, I am trying to design a logo for a couple of NaNo t-shirts which I'm going to wear during November. I started the design last night, using MSPaint and MS Photo Editor. Needless to say, the designing is tough-going with these two. I eventually worked out that I could do a bit of tweaking of images in Word if I set up a drawing canvas, but midnight really isn't the best time for discovering these things.

Not to worry. Today - Day 1 - I have achieved a wordcount of 1,838 words, so I'm very pleased. Kat and I have been texting one another and she has also passed the 1,667 wordcount goal. Great news for both of us.

I'm still working my way through a plot for When Worlds Collide, and Holly Lisle's Dot and Line technique has been a tremendous help in getting the ball rolling (a technique in her How to Think Sideways course), but I had a scene in mind to start the novel with, and this evening I ended up writing a scene that actually happens before that one, so tomorrow's writing is taken care of! This buys me time while I figure out what happens next.

Right, I'm going back to the t-shirt design now...

3 days to go to NaNo...

2008-10-28T22:36:00.003+09:00

... and I have put one scene, and one scene only, into SuperNotecard. Help.

I know I had intended to free write the whole way through NaNo but the nearer the deadline gets, the less comfortable I am with that idea.

Oh crumbs.

Panic is not going to help at this stage. Somehow, some way, I'm going to have to sit down and put a few ideas together.

Where there's a will ...

Vlogging and a way to journal during NaNo

2008-10-26T13:57:00.003+09:00

(Life whisked me away on its merry-go-round, but I made sure to shoot off at the appropriate moment when it came round again so I could blog about this!)

In order to spend as much time as possible at achieving the daily wordcount, some NaNo-ers vlog rather than blog. A vlog is a video blog entry using the webcam on the computer.

An interesting idea and one I might just mull over.

The other interesting time-saving idea I came across here is where the NaNo-er summarises the day and what they achieved as follows:

1. The date and the time.
2. How long I plan to work.
3. What I plan to work on for this day.
4. Time when I stopped writing and the total amount of time spent writing.
5. What I actually ended up doing. How well it went.
6. What I plan to work on tomorrow.
7. When I plan to work tomorrow (am or pm) and for how long.

This would be pretty useful for me today as I try to sit down and write the GothNoWriMo required daily wordcount and also work on the NaNo project.

5 days till GothNoWriMo ends

2008-10-26T10:56:00.006+09:00

It's been a mad week and I haven't had a chance to update the wordcount, what with life jumping up and running me round in circles!

Katherine has received another letter and must keep a rendezvous with the letter-writer; James has written a short story about a lady called Elisiane who used to live in Greenwood Manor; and Dr Sterling, when he visits Katherine to see how she is recovering, realises that all is not well in her world. He asks if there is something he can assist her with, but she refuses to confide in him.

It's time to start thinking about the NaNo project as well. Today I'd like to sit down and get to know the characters better, and come up with ideas for the first four or five scenes. The working title I've come up with is When Worlds Collide.

Sentence-lite (as per Holly Lisle's How to Think Sideways course) is: A girl find her way into another world by way of a dusty mirror hidden in the attic of her grandmother's house.

I'm also working on the cover art work. It's fun, and pictures are a great way to make the muse sit up and dream! This is the preliminary idea for the cover, and I found the images on two websites: http://www.outdoor-photos.com/ and http://www.city-photos.org/, both of which are great for writing prompts. I have no fancy software, just mspaint and Microsoft photo editor, but they are good to get across the main gist of what I'll be writing about.

The silhouette image of the couple is from http://www.photoalberta.ca/wordpress/?p=103. This site features some great images of engagements and weddings.

Day 18 GothNoWriMo

2008-10-18T20:44:00.004+08:00

I wrote over 1,000 words this evening. I'm pleased with that as I didn't get anything done yesterday or the day before.

Katherine has a makeshift bed set up for her in the drawing room and, alone, she sees something in the mirror over the fireplace...

Day 16 GothNoWriMo

2008-10-16T22:19:00.005+08:00

I didn't do any writing today. Had my writers' group get-together instead.

I have been thinking about my NaNo project, and I have some definite ideas which excite me. I know how my heroine gets from her world to the hero's world. I know that my hero is a rebel. I know the means by which the heroine travels to the other world.

Now I just need to work out why the hero is a rebel and what/who he's fighting. And how the heroine fits into it. I know that she does fit in. The fact that she can cross worlds is problematic to the rebels; I'm just not sure why.

It'll come. I know my Muse is busy prowling through the shadowy undergrowth for ideas!

Dr Sterling has come to visit Katherine to see how she is after her tumble, and Gertrude, her mother-in-law, has sharp words for her after he's left.

Day 12 GothNoWriMo

2008-10-12T13:43:00.002+08:00

I'm plodding along nicely. I added a bit more to the scene with Katherine and Dr Sterling - the romance elements - and now my mind is turning to look at NaNoWriMo on the horizon and wondering what I'm going to write for it.

I think my original idea of free-writing my way through November might just have to be method I employ, after all.

Katherine is sitting on the back of the cart home, her ankle very sore, but her thoughts full of Dr Sterling.

Day 9 GothNoWriMo

2008-10-09T21:36:00.002+08:00

I went mad today and wrote about 2,300 words!

Katherine has tripped over a stile while walking with her son, and the local doctor, Anthony Sterling, has come to her rescue.

Day 7 GothNoWriMo

2008-10-07T15:04:00.003+08:00

I went off to do some coffee-shop writing and wrote pages with ease. That is a very, very nice feeling!

Katherine is alone in the bedroom at Greenwood Manor. It's night-time, and she is brushing her hair and thinking back over the problem she needs to sort out and the words exchanged with her mother in law, Gertrude. But an icy draught keeps disturbing her...

Day 5 GothNoWriMo

2008-10-04T09:51:00.001+08:00

1670 words written. 8% of total goal. I'm on track. Didn't get any writing done yesterday, but I'll do 1000+ words today to make up for it.

Katherine has just been to see her friend Eleonora, requesting her help in finding a house that she can rent for a while in a part of the country she's never been to before (and where nobody is likely to come looking for her).

Day 1 GothNoWriMo

2008-10-01T20:05:00.000+08:00

Day 1 and I have written 787 words. The goal was 650 for today, and 645 per day for the rest of the month. I'm on track.

And I'm using a microscopic orange-coloured Edwardian Script font on a black background. It's easier on the eyes, but not easily-read so there's less temptation to go back and delete words. The aim is to write as many words as possible, after all.

So, tonight I wrote about my heroine, Katherine, who is sitting in a quiet room, trying to hold onto her calm outward appearance after receiving a letter which has sent her into inner turmoil...

Only 5 days to go till GothNoWriMo begins!

2008-09-26T18:21:00.000+08:00

These are the things I've done to prepare:

I've worked out the number of scenes based on the wordcount - I'm aiming to write 20,000 words, I will have somewhere between 1000 and 2000 words per scene, so that means I'll have somewhere between 10 and 20 scenes. Let's say 15

I've done a mind map on 'I fear' (a part of a technique from the Thinking Sideways course) to find out what makes me shiver with uneasiness so that I can include those elements in the story.

I've worked out what will happen in the first four or five scenes so that I don't stall once I start writing. I don't want to do much more than that, because I find that plotting the whole story up front takes all the fun out of it for me. If I've written the story outline, then what point is there in writing the story? It's just repetition.

I've re-read an article I found some years ago on About.com (geared towards teen writing, but the article doesn't appear to be on that website any more so I'm glad I printed a copy at the time!) to keep in mind how to go about creating a gothic, dark, look-over-your-shoulder ambience in the story

I've drawn up a wordcount spreadsheet so that I can track whether I'm on target, behind and need to catch up, or ahead and can afford to take a day off.

I've got some images of elements of the story to keep me inspired - images of my hero and heroine, the haunted house, a villain, the ghost.

A floor plan of the house and grounds so that I can decide what happens where; this will also help to inspire ideas for further scenes.

And that's it.

I'm looking forward to the challenge and can't wait to get started!

GothNoWriMo progress

2008-09-12T19:52:00.000+08:00

The How to Think Sideways course has helped me:

Create a story concept on demand

Name and get to know my characters

Outline some critical scenes

That's as far as I've gotten just now. (I've done all that and more for my fantasy WIP - I'm working on two things at once at the moment!)

I was thinking of putting together a scrapbook page with some images that relate to the GothNoWriMo novella and gathered together some pictures of Victorian women and men and houses. Then I went looking for a ghost and came across image no. 4 on this site. Scared the life out of myself - and I was looking at it in broad daylight!

GothNoWriMo - planning

2008-08-31T11:31:00.000+08:00

Holly Lisle's How to Think Sideways course has come in very, very handy this year to help me plan what I'm going to write for GothNoWriMo. I have the initial story idea and theme, thanks to the exercise in week 3 of the course, while the exercise in week 5 rounded out the character and the setting in my head and led to the creation of a couple more characters which in turn led to a couple of ideas for scenes. This really is a valuable course for any writer.

I'm still working out a few details, and I'm going to enter some notes for scenes into SuperNoteCard later on this morning so that they're all ready for me come October.

I also ordered a number of Gothic films. So far, I've watched The House on Haunted Hill and Rebecca. Still to come is The Changeling, The Innocents, and Dragonwyck. Can't wait!

Oh ye gods!

2008-08-04T18:19:00.001+08:00

Despite my earlier post, guess what I've gone and done?

Signed up to write 20K of a gothic novella in October.

I'm Belladonna over on GothNoWriMo.

And I seem to have discovered a secret goth in my depths. (I love the avatar I found on photobucket.)

Gothnowrimo

2008-08-04T16:46:00.000+08:00

I was browsing the NaNo website and came across a post on the Gothic Novel Writing Month which will be taking place in October.

I didn't know very much about the genre, so I read the recommended research links and began to really get interested in it. It brought me back to my childhood when I read a lot of ghost stories in this genre.

My thoughts on the gothic novel coupled with the exercise I'm working on for Holly Lisle's How to Think Sideways course produced an idea for a short story which my muse is still contemplating.

I'm actually quite excited about this project!

I'm not sure if I'll participate in GothNoWriMo as NaNo is taking place the next month and two months of hard slog might be pushing it a bit, but it was well worth browsing the site and re-discovering the genre. There are also some links to books in the gothic genre and a lot of them are available free on ManyBooks.net.

NaNo 2008 - free writing all the way!

2008-07-29T18:51:00.000+08:00

I'll make this short.

I'm seriously thinking of free-writing my way through the 50,000 words during November.

If I do, I will not be doing any plotting; there will be no major characterisation and no background filling-in.

Why would I do this?

'Cos it's plain mad! And isn't NaNo all about madness?

This is going to be fun!!